This speedy crustacean scampers along the beach in search of a meal, and almost anything will do: from insects and tiny turtles to seaweed and dead birds that wash ashore. Though a good swimmer equipped with gills, this pale-colored crab spends more time on land than most other crabs. A special "lung" allows it to stay out of the water as long as needed.
Clip & Crush: One of the ghost crab's pincers is larger than the other. The crustacean uses the little one to pick up small pieces of food from the sand, and the bigger one is good for grabbing and crushing live prey.
Stalker: This crab's eyes sit on tall stalks, high above the rest of its body. When emerging from its burrow, the ghost crab pokes these above the surface to do a quick check for potential predators in area.
Land Lubber[]

The ghost crab blends in with the sand.
Even though the ghost crab comes from the sea, it spends the vast majority of its time on land. The creature has gills, but they're sealed in a special chamber, a sort of "lung," that the crab fills with water so it can stay out for long periods of time. When the crab's gills soak up all the oxygen from this water, the crustacean simply lets in more oxygen from the air to re-fill its supply. This crab can stay on land only as long as its gills stay moist.
Now You See It: The ghost crab got its name from its ability to "disappear" at will. If the creature sees an enemy, it hunches down so its shell blends into the sand, making the crab seem invisible.
Ebb & Flow: The scorching sun at the shore dries out the ghost crabs gills, so the creature is most active around sunrise and sunset. When a high tide roles in, it washes all types of food onto the shore for the crab to comb through.
Just Washed In[]
- As the sun goes down, a ghost crab climbs out of its burrow and begins its search for food. It sifts through debris washed onto he sand and grabs anything it can eat.
- Not far away, the hungry crab spots a dead Portuguese man-o-war. The creature scurries across the sand before other scavengers can get to it.
- The man-o-war's stinging tentacles are still active, but they can't pierce the ghost crab's hard shell. The crab snips pieces of the man-o-war with its pincers and gobbles them down.
Trivia[]
- The "Prey" section of the Creature Features is missing a comma between "fish" and "insects".
- The "Ebb & Flow" section on the back says "crabs" when it should say "crab's".